22 comments:

More interesting, rather than hoping for the only paid-for newspaper in the capital to change, should be discussion over how to break up its monopoly - not with another paper, but in the form of a mass-audience London blog or hub of blogs that produced lots of high quality news coverage without all the bad stuff the Standard continues to have, or is the staple of the London Lite/London Paper.

And surely it's a matter of time before Sockman returns? Or has he been sacked? Christmas comes but twice a year, I hope...

I thought it odd that there were no articles about the State of London Debate on the weekend, which covered a vast range of issues, and wasnt just about the Mayor...but perhaps that's the point?- moving away from constant political comment towards general 'news', even if it means we get a 2 1/2 page spread about some millionaire bloking having a secret family?...i'll keep my 50p for now me thinks.

We were there but there wasn't a lot that was newsworthy to be honest. His speech was a warmed-up version of his past 12 MQT round-ups and he refused to answer the question I asked him in the press conference afterwards. There is a recording that might see the light of day at some point.

A free copy of *today's* Standard was thrust into my hands in Picadilly Circus at about 10pm today. Subsequently, at a mainline railway station, I was offered the same paper for 10p. Strange (or desperate) marketing tactics afoot.

Anyway, I can report that today's all-new positive (and positively orange) Standard features the writings of two journalistic giants, each being given a full double-page spread, and neither mentioning Ken Livingstone. Their names? Andrew Gilligan and Paddington Bear. Only one of them criticises bendy buses, too, and it's not the usual sockspect. Truly bizarre.

Initially I was saddened to see that Gilligan hadn't been given the boot, but now I realise he's writing alongside a fictional bear (and giving the refighting of the last election a rest) it's good to see that at least they're surrounding him with journalists of similar quality and seriousness.

Based on the free copy I read on Monday, the Standard seems a little bit better than it was, but they're still under the impression that having lots of pages = having lots of genuine content, and the writing is still, in general, really boring. Though no sign of Nick Cohen for two weeks now.

If they're really looking for new readers, they need to either make the stuff in it better, or make it cheaper. Because there's no way I'd switch reading the two freesheets for that, paying 50p more.

In fairness, it does show that Londoners commuting need something better than the free papers. I picked up the free copy the other day and not only was it better, but it was kore worthwile.I suppose news about Jordan, Posh, drunken footballers is all very well and topical, but you do sometimes feel that you need something more on the 5.37Who knows - if they carry on like this, some really good journalists - right and left - would want to work for them.